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Settling for Less

Guest post by: Rebel Brown

Article Overview: Poor service seems to have become the status quo. Why is that? In business we all talk the talk of customer focus, we all share the same vision - but in execution we seem to fall far short. I'm beginning to wonder if it's our own fault - as customers, not as business leaders. Are we settling for less?

Settling for Less

This past week I had an experience with Comcast that left me speechless, er cableless. Actually, it's been going on for a month now. I won't go into the details. But even @ComcastCares is stumped. Or at least I think they are. I haven't heard from them in 6 days, since they asked for my address because they couldn't find me in their customer database with my phone numbers - which they are now servicing. Scary huh? I do have to contact them again - today I got a bill for a month of service. That's true - Comcast has been installed for a month now in my house - well kinda. I had no cable tv or other services that actually worked during that time period - but who am I to split hairs with their billing system:) Anyway.....

It's not the first time I've been treated poorly as a customer. It seems like it's the norm lately. Just read the Tweets or FB messages - or blogs galore about the poor treatment and lack of customer focus we all seem to experience on a regular basis.

And that's my point. Poor service seems to have become the status quo.

Why is that? In business we all talk the talk of customer focus, we all share the same vision of happy customers buying our products and singing our praises. Those are fantasies and dreams - while reality falls far short!

I'm beginning to wonder if it's our own fault as customers.

Are we settling for less? Are we feeling so powerless - or have we forgotten our power - to the point that we accept whatever we can get and just keep paying the bills? Have we given up our rights to vote with our dollars because we think we don't have a choice?

I think I am settling. I fought back to no avail against Ford last year when my brand new F250 came darned close to killing me and my horses - not once but twice within six months. I had a reason to be upset - but they stonewalled me. And stonewalled me. And stonewalled me some more. I finally gave up because the bureaucracy (including their oh so heralded and useless social media liaison) was just too big to do anything else.

Then there's my credit card company -the one that cancels my card every single time I use it - thinking it's fraudulent purchasing. Say what? I can't buy anything with it so what good is it to me? NONE. But according to Chase I'm SAFER this way. They do not understand why I'm upset because they cancel my card every week - stranding me without a way to pay for all kinds of things. To them - they're protecting me. To me - they are preventing me from living my life. I'm pushing back but it's on deaf ears. So I am finally changing credit cards.

There's such a powerless feeling to standing up against a big company. Now more than ever.

What do you do when the big gorilla has all the power (they have your money and can stall forever) and their 'customer service' reps barely speak English? When the telephone scripts are defined for expediency and rules to protect companies. All at the cost of customer experience.

From consumers and business to BP, our government and the Gulf - it's all about the service we have every right to expect from our vendors - for ourselves and for our world.

It's time we all became responsible consumers and took back our power. It's certainly time we refused to settle for less than what we bargained for. As consumers who pay dollars to these vendors - we deserve better.

So why don't we stand up and say 'enough'?

Maybe its because we think a single voice doesn't matter. I get that. But what if we all banded together and refused to accept poor service? I have to admit -lately I'm feeling like our dear friend Peter Finch in Network - I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

What can we do to make it clear that we expect, and deserve, more?

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Article Tags: business growth, customer service, Defy Gravity



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